REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A.P. Pharma, Inc. (OTCBB: APPA.OB), a specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed a new management team to lead the Company. Effective today, Barry D. Quart, Pharm.D. will join the Company as Chief Executive Officer, Robert Rosen, who joined A.P. Pharma in October 2012 as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, will be promoted to the role of President, and Steve Davis will join the Company as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Each executive joined A.P. Pharma's Board of Directors in 2012 and will continue to serve as directors.

"We are very excited to assemble a team with such extensive industry experience and impressive track records to maximize the value of A.P. Pharma's lead drug candidate, APF530, and capitalize on the Company's Biochronomer™ drug delivery platform," said Kevin C. Tang, Chairman of the A.P. Pharma Board of Directors. "Barry was instrumental in building two biopharmaceutical companies, Ardea Biosciences and Agouron Pharmaceuticals, that were acquired by major pharmaceutical companies for more than $1 billion each. Rob brings deep experience in the commercialization of oncology drugs and was responsible for the launch of two products, Nexavar and Eloxatin, that each achieved sales of more than $1 billion only a few years following market introduction. Steve most recently was the chief architect in the transaction resulting in the sale of Ardea Biosciences to AstraZeneca for more than $1 billion."

"I would also like to extend my thanks to John Whelan and Michael Adam, Ph.D., each of whom made valuable contributions to A.P. Pharma and will be stepping down from their current positions," continued Mr. Tang.

"I am very excited to join A.P. Pharma and to work with the stellar management team the Company has assembled. APF530 and the Biochronomer drug delivery technology, which has the potential to be used for a broad range of drugs, provide a solid platform for building a successful company," said Dr. Quart.

Dr. Quart was most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of Ardea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since its founding in December 2006. Ardea was acquired by AstraZeneca PLC for $1.26 billion in June 2012. Previously, he was with Pfizer as Senior Vice President, Pfizer Global Research and Development and the director of Pfizer's La Jolla Laboratories, where he was responsible for approximately 1,000 employees and an annual budget of almost $300 million. Prior to Pfizer's acquisition of the Warner-Lambert Company, Dr. Quart was President of Research and Development at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of the Warner-Lambert Company. Agouron was acquired by Warner-Lambert for $2.1 billion in 1999. Dr. Quart joined Agouron in 1993 and was instrumental in the development and registration of Viracept, which went from the lab bench to new drug application approval in 38 months. Dr. Quart received his Pharm.D. degree from University of California, San Francisco.

Prior to joining A.P. Pharma as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Rosen served as global head of oncology at Bayer HealthCare, where he was responsible for the development of the global oncology business unit for regions that included the Americas, Europe, Japan, and Asia Pacific from 2005 to 2011. During his tenure at Bayer Healthcare, he led the launch of Nexavar for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. Nexavar's worldwide sales in 2011 were $1.0 billion. He also led premarket activities for Stivarga for gastrointestinal stromal tumors and colon cancer and alpharadin for prostate cancer. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Rosen was vice president of the oncology business unit at Sanofi-Synthèlabo, where he was responsible for the development of Sanofi's U.S. oncology business and the launch of Eloxatin for colon cancer. Eloxatin U.S. sales in 2005, its third full year on the market, were $1.1 billion, ranking it among the industry's most successful oncology drug launches. Mr. Rosen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from Northeastern University.

Mr. Davis was most recently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Ardea Biosciences, Inc. He has completed numerous strategic transactions between biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including the recent $1.26 billion acquisition of Ardea by AstraZeneca PLC. Prior to Ardea, Mr. Davis served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Neurogen Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Before becoming Neurogen's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Davis served in numerous executive roles at Neurogen completing multiple collaboration and asset acquisition and sale transactions with global pharmaceutical companies. Previously, Mr. Davis practiced as a corporate and securities attorney with a Wall Street law firm and as a Certified Public Accountant with a major accounting firm. Mr. Davis received his B.S. in Accounting from Southern Nazarene University and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University.

About APF530

A.P. Pharma's lead product candidate, APF530, is being developed for the prevention of both acute- and delayed-onset chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). One of the most debilitating side effects of cancer chemotherapy, CINV is a leading cause of premature discontinuation of treatment. Today there is only one injectable 5-HT3 antagonist approved for the prevention of delayed-onset CINV. APF530 contains the 5-HT3 antagonist granisetron formulated in the Company's proprietary Biochronomer™ drug delivery system, which allows therapeutic drug levels to be maintained for five days with a single subcutaneous injection. Currently available intravenous and oral formulations of granisetron are approved only for the prevention of acute-onset CINV. Granisetron was selected for APF530 because it is widely prescribed by physicians based on a well-established record of safety and efficacy.

About A.P. Pharma

A.P. Pharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing products using its proprietary Biochronomer™ polymer-based drug delivery platform. This drug delivery platform is designed to improve the therapeutic profile of injectable pharmaceuticals by converting them from products that must be injected once or twice per day to products that need to be injected only once every one or two weeks. The Company's lead product candidate, APF530, is being developed for the prevention of both acute- and delayed-onset chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. For further information, please visit the Company's web site at www.appharma.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties associated with the potential approval of APF530 and the potential timing for such approval, if approved at all, the projected timing for the commercial launch of APF530, if approved, as well as risks relating to capital resources and liquidity, satisfactory completion of clinical studies, progress in research and development programs, successful launch and acceptance of new products and other risks and uncertainties identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution investors that forward-looking statements reflect our analysis only on their stated date. We do not intend to update them except as required by law.